UC Chef Designs Winning Recipe for New Campus Dining Experience

For those of us who have a hard time coming up with what to serve for dinner through the week, Rosemary Pavinski's job may sound daunting. The Aramark Executive Chef designs the MarketPointe at Siddall's menu for breakfast, lunch and dinner ahead of time for an entire academic quarter. And no, there are no leftovers, TV dinners or a meal consisting of a handful of M&Ms on her watch. This menu looks, smells and tastes like something you'd savor at a fine downtown restaurant after seeing a show at the Aronoff, but without those showy prices.

Students, faculty and staff will see Rosemary in action as part of the new dining experience at MarketPointe at Siddall, as she uses her supreme culinary skills to prepare their meals made to order. The new MarketPointe at Siddall, with the $3.3 million dollar renovation opening to diners this fall, will make UC one of the nation's first universities to implement a program featuring display-style cooking. UC Executive Chef Rosemary Pavinski graduated with honors from the Culinary Institute of America in 1995 and has further developed her skills working at some of the finest restaurants around the nation.

Come hungry -- it's an "all-you-can-eat" dining experience with entrees such as Asian-spiced chicken with blueberry sauce, Arroz con Pollo, vegetable or meat stir-fry at the Stir Crazy saute station. There's something for everyone, whether it's the chef specialty of the day, Vegan-style entrees, pasta tossed fresh to order, burgers and hotdogs from the Cinci Grill, pizza, PanGeos, a sandwich, or soup and salad. The "Traditions" food station at MarkePointe is nicknamed the "comfort zone," with favorites including country meatloaf, mashed potatoes and gravy, macaroni and cheese, pot-pies and roasted turkey breast.

Growing up in Pennsylvania with an Italian and Polish heritage, Rosemary says there was "always a lot of cooking going on. Both of my Italian grandparents, Nana and Poppy, were great cooks and prepared traditional foods from their native region of Italy where they were born. My mom was also a great cook and there was always enough food to bring a friend home unexpectedly for dinner."

She was inspired to become a chef while working part time as a college student at a fine-dining hotel restaurant in Pennsylvania. "A Certified Executive Chef from England took me under his wing, and I started working in the pantry position of this new hotel. Within six months I was the saute cook, and my career just started to fall into place."

Rosemary was the first female to hold the job of Sous Chef at The Saber Room, a traditional fine dining restaurant in Wilkes Barre, Pa. "It was a true man's world but a first-class restaurant, from the Maitre 'D to the back-waiter. The women's menu did not have the prices listed on them." When she served as Executive Chef of the bayside Buttery Restaurant in Lewes, Del., her ideas were featured in the state magazine "Delaware Today." She says her creation of the Buttery's Wine Dinner Series is still a topic of conversation in Lewes. She has also run the kitchens of finer restaurants in Key West, Fla.

She joined the university in 1998, first taking a position as Executive Chef for the catering department. Now as Executive Chef for the university, her presence is making UC a national leader in its approach to food service at institutions. "I think that campus food service has progressed amazingly," she says. UC's new food service was designed around its most valued customers --asking students what they wanted, and then based on their input, serving up this new concept.

"Customer service is a marriage of a lot of things," Rosemary says. "Those old hotel pans, the cafeteria-style of serving food, are now being replaced with a lot more flair and creativity. We will be interacting with the students all the time. It's awesome what we're going to do here. There's more focus on quality food choices, the freshest fruits and vegetables and a variety of different foods."

And even though she spends her entire day in the kitchen, she still cooks at home. For her, food is not work. "I love it. I really love what I do."

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